Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari is demanding the referee in yesterday’s Chelsea v Arsenal match apologise after Arsenal striker Robin van Persie’s first goal, which appeared to be offside, was allowed by the referee resulting in a 2-1 defeat.

Scolari said of the incident: “I want only after tomorrow that he (Dean) looks at the TV and the referee and the linesman see they are wrong and they say sorry.

“That is all I want, no more, because they were not good and made a mistake.”

“We need a referee that comes to Stamford Bridge who referees for both sides, not just for one,”

“Have you ever heard me speak about referees any time in the games I have been here? Never, in 15 in the Premier League, four in the Champions League, the Carling Cup, I have not said anything but today is different.

“I do not want three points, all I want is them to say sorry it was a mistake because in the first half the same linesman made a mistake against us with Salomon Kalou.

“He is human and he can make a mistake but the offside has killed my team. I just want them to say they are wrong because I am wrong when I put some players in or the players are wrong when they make a mistake in front of goal or are not covering.

“These are all wrong but the referee is never wrong. I do not think they came here to deliberately make a mistake against us.

As Scolari continued, his statement seemed more and more to show that it was simply sour grapes for a lacklustre performance:

“It is difficult for my team to play after this because they lost their concentration. The offside killed my team.

“We lost because one goal was not a goal and it was a goal that changed the result. If we won, Arsenal would have been 13 points behind us and their championship would have been finished.”

The match was, of course, crunch time for Arsenal and a loss would have ruled them out of any chance at a title win. Wenger steered away from commenting on the potential offside, and instead chose to look at the game as a change in direction for a team plagued by accusations of inexperience and internal rifts:

“It was a fantastic win. We’ve had a bad period in the League and we were 1-0 down and still won.

“There’s no better test of character. I told the team to keep the pace and last longer than they did and keep strong.”

“It was much better but we are still not close enough,”

“We can gain belief after beating Manchester United and now Chelsea away. That shows we have potential and character. We have now to be humble and come back tomorrow and do our job.”

Although the FA have said they wont take action over Scolari’s comments, perhaps this will again reinvigorate the debate about instant replays for referees in the Premiership.

Source:BBC